The Collected Christopher Connery (34 page)

The eleventh day at Xavier’s house was shaping up to be
one of the better ones Gail had had in a long time. Sure, they still hadn’t
made progress on the case, but as she finished her breakfast, a freakish gleam
of rainy season sun escaped through the clouds, turning the usually gray world
a warm gold, and everyone’s moods seemed to lift along with the clouds. Even
Nia seemed to temporarily shrug off the stress of her responsibilities and
after Arthur and Xavier left to see to a busted generator and a girl with an
equally busted arm, Nia took hold of Gail’s hand and asked if she wanted to
take a walk in the nice weather. Standing in the sunlight pouring through the
window, Nia was practically glowing herself.

It would have been hard to say no to her even if it had
been pouring, so Gail finished off her coffee and followed Nia outside. It was
still cool, a brisk breeze making it clear that the storms wouldn’t hold off
for long, but the sun was putting on a good show, burning off the mist and
catching in Nia’s dark hair like flashes of fire.

They walked hand-in-hand down to the bridge closest to
Xavier’s house, not talking about anything in particular. When they stopped at
the low bridge that curved over the river, Gail leaned her arms on the stone
railing. The canal here was dug deeper than in other parts of Gracetown, which
kept the flooding to a minimum. The residents of Wet Blessing would move here
if they could, but the police were harder on squatters here and their hovels
would be pulled down almost as soon as they went up.

Nia must have noticed the disquiet on her face, because
she pulled her away from the bridge and down one of the narrow side streets.
This route was certainly more secluded than the canal, which even this early in
the morning was bustling with people heading out for work or walking to the
nearest well or just gathering some bad water to use as poor man’s rat poison.
This street on the other hand was nearly dead silent, most of the houses
abandoned and rotting.

As they walked farther down the empty street, Nia moved
closer to Gail’s side until they were walking arm-in-arm.

“Something bothering you, princess?”

Nia shook her head, but her face darkened as she gazed at
the vacant houses, their boarded up windows staring at the street like blinded
eyes. “I can’t believe you used to live in a place like this. Was it – I
remember what you said about your father – but was it always terrible?”

It looks worse than it is,
Gail almost said, but
that wasn’t true. In fact, the opposite was truer, but what would be the point
of telling Nia that? She finally settled on saying nothing at all.

But Nia seemed to get the point anyway. She looked down
at her feet. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“It’s not that. It’s just not worth dwelling on. It happened
a long time ago.”

Nia was silent for a moment, then she said, “I dwell on
the past all the time.”

“Your mom?” Gail remembered the story Nia had told her,
the one about the magician whose mistake had cost herself and several of her
students their lives. “That’s different. That was a real tragedy. What happened
to me…” She shrugged. “It happens every day around here.”

“But it shouldn’t.” Leaning her head on Gail’s shoulder,
Nia gazed around the street again. “Where did you go after, if you don’t mind
me asking?”

“After I got flooded out? I went to the children’s home
up on Arrow Hill. It wasn’t so bad. I mean, it wasn’t so great either, but lots
of kids had it worse.”

Nia only sighed in response.

Gail had a feeling Nia couldn’t help looking at her past
like a problem she could fix, as if there was some combination of words that
would take the sting of Wet Blessing and Arrow Hill out of Gail’s memories
forever, but it didn’t work that way. Nia couldn’t wipe away Gail’s past any
more than Gail could give Nia her mother back.

But she had spent enough time with Nia to know that, if
she were allowed to, she would roll the unsolvable problem around in her mind
until it had eroded away all her glow, so Gail took her by the hand again and
said, “Want to see the best thing about living in a neighborhood like this?”

Ignoring Nia’s bewildered questions, Gail tugged her out
of the street and in between two of the abandoned houses. The roofs of the
houses overlapped so completely that the little alley was entirely shrouded in
dark blue shadow.

“See?” said Gail, putting her hands on Nia’s hips.
“Instant privacy.”

The surprise faded on Nia’s face faded into a slight
smirk. “I don’t know if you are aware, detective, but human beings have long
been acquainted with the art of building houses, which in turn contain rooms,
which are specifically designed to provide privacy.”

“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?”

Nia laughed as Gail bent down to kiss her neck. “It also
sounds like an effective way to join Mr. Rivers in bed with his cold.”

“Well, three’s kind of a crowd, but if you insist…”

“You know very well that wasn’t what I meant.”

“Yeah.” Gail pressed a final lingering kiss to the hollow
beneath Nia’s ear and pulled back. “All right, if you’d rather not, we can keep
–” She was cut off by Nia pressing a finger across her lips.

“Detective, do you ever stop talking?”

Gail sputtered, turning her head away. “You’re one to
talk, princess! Have you ever –” She was very effectively cut off by Nia
folding in close and pressing their lips together.

About half an hour later, they emerged from the alley,
looking slightly worse for the wear – Gail had lost her hair tie somewhere and
Nia had contrived to pull a seam loose on her dress, so she had to hold it with
one hand to keep it from falling off of her shoulder – but in much better
spirits.

When they stopped to watch a few of Xavier’s students
playing a game of stickball in the yard, Nia leaned up and kissed Gail’s cheek.

Gail looked over at her with a confused smile. “What was
that for?”

Nia only shrugged, dipping her head again.

The kids’ red ball rolled their way and Gail tossed it
back.

“Why don’t we keep going?” Nia said, slipping her arm
through Gail’s. “It seems a shame to waste the sun.”

“Sure. Whatever you want, princess.”

They walked a bit longer, making a wide loop before
doubling back to the house. At one point, Nia stopped suddenly, pulling Gail to
a stop.

“What is it?” Gail asked automatically, hoping Nia wasn’t
drifting back to melancholy thoughts. Gracetown was depressing enough.

“Did you know about Arthur and Mr. Rivers?”

Shit.
Well, she knew this was going to come up
sooner or later. “Yeah.”

“And you didn’t tell me.”

“Yeah.”

“Why?” The question didn’t come out accusatory, just
honestly curious, but Gail knew Nia would be within her rights to be pissed, so
she wasn’t going to let her guard down. “I figured it was between you and
Arthur and it wasn’t my business to get involved one way or another. It was
Arthur’s place to talk to you about it.”

Nia remained silent for another moment, eyes still on the
ground, hand still on Gail’s arm. Then she said, “Fair enough.”

Gail blinked. “Fair enough?”

“Fair enough.”

It was hard to imagine it would be that easy. Gail didn’t
regret what she’d done, but she couldn’t deny that it was a gray business.
“Anyway, I guess we both figured that if you didn’t know, you couldn’t get in
trouble for it.”

Nia raised her eyes at last. “Surely you understand the
Academy better than that by now, detective.” The word ‘Academy’ had lost a
little of the gleam her voice usually saturated it with.

“Why not tell them to go fuck themselves then?” Gail
asked without thinking. “I mean, not
directly
but…”

Nia only shook her head. “They do good work. Not always
in the manner I wish they would, but they do good work. Without them…” She
shook her head. “Without them, this city would fall apart. No waterproofing, no
farming, no protection from unscrupulous magicians who would take advantage of
laymen. No… no, nothing.”

Nothing but water.
Not knowing what to say, Gail
just squeezed Nia’s hand gently and was relieved when Nia returned the clasp.

Their good mood slowly returned as they made their way
back to Xavier’s house. Gail told Nia a story about how she, when helping build
that steep swooping roof, had slid down and got herself stuck in one of the
troughs, which was thankfully empty at the time. She had managed to get herself
tangled in her coat, which in turn had caught on the edge of the trough, and
had looked nothing at all like the brave and dashing detective that Xavier told
his buddies about.

It wasn’t her finest moment, but it made Nia laugh and
lean against Gail’s shoulder, so she figured that was all right. She snuck a
glance at the sky as they walked, watching as the blue was slowly obscured by
spreading fingers of dark gray clouds. In the distance, she could see a flicker
of lightning in the darkness. She pulled up her collar up against the wind and
urged Nia to walk a little faster. 

By afternoon, the sky was a brooding black. While Mr.
Rivers ducked out to check on his nearest neighbors to make sure they had
enough candles and clean water to make it through the storm, Nia snatched the
opportunity. Her walk with Gail had shaken some of the cobwebs from her mind
and she had hit upon a possible solution to their current predicament – the
Connery predicament at least. As Xavier left the house, Nia gently touched his
arm and asked if perhaps he would prefer to stay with a neighbor tonight.

He had looked at her silently for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll
call if I need to come home.”

“Thank you.” Nia watched him go then asked both Arthur
and Gail to join her in the guestroom to propose her newest – and last – idea.

“As you’ve probably both realized, I am having no luck
locating the final piece of Connery.”

Arthur’s nod came a bit late, as though he had forgotten
all about Connery.

“I don’t know if my spells aren’t precise enough or if
the magical interference from Connery’s dead underling is too great, but it doesn’t
matter. The point is that while I know Connery must be nearby, I cannot find
him. Therefore, I’m proposing an alternate solution.” Kneeling on the guestroom
floor, Nia opened her small silver case and took out a piece of chalk. “Do you
remember the hotel?”

“It’d be pretty hard to forget,” said Gail.

“Well, though it was hardly the most elegant solution, I
was able to expose Connery then by triggering his traps. It’s not without risk,
of course, but when the traps are triggered, the magic released will make it
impossible for Connery to hide.” There was a nervous flutter in Nia’s stomach,
but she banished it and began drawing directly on Mr. Rivers’ floor.

“So you want to do the same thing here?” Arthur watched
the growing circle with trepidation. “It didn’t go well before.”

“Yes, but now that I know the kind of magic Connery
employs in his traps, we can be prepared.” She looked up at Arthur. “To be
safe, I asked Mr. Rivers to stay out of the house tonight. He said he would
call if his plans changed.” Leaving the spell on the floor half-finished for
the moment, Nia waved Gail and Arthur closer. “I am going to put powerful
protective spells on all of us. This will make it impossible for us to be
trapped the way we were in the hotel.”

Arthur eyed the chalk uneasily. “Are you sure this is the
only way, Ni?”

“Yes. But as I said, this time, we won’t be taking any
unnecessary risks.” She waved the chalk, directing both of them to take a seat
on the bed. “Now, let’s hurry. We want to be finished before morning.

Despite the need for haste, Nia took her time with the
protection spells, drawing each line and curve with absolute precision. By the
time she was finished, all three of them had complex circles drawn on their
hands and foreheads.

“Do I look as ridiculous as I feel?” Arthur asked, trying
to scratch his nose with his shoulder to avoid smudging the spells on his
hands.

“Don’t worry, the drawings will fade once the spells are
triggered. They will – are you all right, detective?”

Gail was looking closely at the circles on her hands.
“This won’t, you know, cause any problems for me? Seeing that guy who attacked
Xavier – well, that kind of brought back how unpleasant that was.”

“No!” Nia couldn’t believe Gail thought she would be so
careless. “These are simply protective spells, they do not touch your physical
body. It’s like – like – like putting on a helmet or a poncho. They protect
you, but they don’t become part of you.”

Gail raised her chalk-stained hands in surrender. “I was
just asking, princess. I trust you, okay?”

“Okay.” Nia met Gail’s eyes, wanting to make it
absolutely clear that she would take no more chances with her safety.

Gail must have understood, because she dropped her hands
and said briskly, “All right, how do we put on these magical ponchos?”

Arthur rolled his eyes, but Nia couldn’t hold back a
chuckle. “It’s quite simple. On the count of three, clasp your hands together,
like this.” She illustrated by cupping one of her hands over the other, careful
not to smudge the chalk early. “On the count of three then. One, two, three…”

They all brought their hands together – Gail with a
little more energy than was strictly necessary – and Nia felt the protection
spells take shape around them like a drape of silver mist. A relieved breath
escaped her lips. She had been more nervous than she had let on about this plan
of hers, but with the protective webs of magic gathered around her, she felt a
rush of confidence.

Still, as she finished the circle on the floor, she was
careful to remind the others to remain alert and cautious. If they became
separated after Connery’s traps were triggered, they should stay exactly where
they were and wait for Nia to find them.

“Unless something
really
dangerous is happening,”
she amended after a moment. “Then you should probably try to run away.”

“You know, Ni,” said Arthur, “sometimes I think you
should be the doctor. You’re just so comforting.”

“Oh, hush, Arthur.” Taking a deep breath, Nia triggered
the spell, bracing herself for anything: another awful illusion, all of the
furniture in the room flying at their heads, the canal down the road catching
fire.

But none of that happened.

Nothing
happened.